Living on the edge

I decided to ride Beefs today, even though it's Quarter Horse day. Okay, so that probably doesn't make sense to you. Don't get me wrong, I love the shorties. However, Quarter Horse days mean lots of match racers (match racers fall into a completely different category from normal Quarter Horse trainers and the two shouldn't be compared to each other). Match racers usually means that for one horse, about twenty people come to get it ready to run. You figure anywhere from three to five people per vehicle which means a truck and trailer (that they usually don't know how to pull and hit the curb by our barn with) along with anywhere from four to six other vehicles. This isn't that big of a deal except for the fact that a large percentage of them drive about a hundred miles an hour through the barn area with their music blaring and the base bumpin. Therefore, you risk a certain death riding in the barn area when they're around. Because they flat out don't give a shit.

    Love him!

*They also have a tendency to get into fights during the races and try to kill each other. I'll never forget the time about forty of them got into it. They were beating the hell out of each other. Most memorable was the fifty-ish woman in the middle of it all, holding the hair of a girl in her early twenties and punching her in the face. Apparently the entire war was over a $100,000 side bet. Yeah, it gets pretty classy on quarter horse day.

Anyway, it's supposed to rain today and the ground is already crappy from the last time. I have a lesson on Monday and who knows if I'll be able to ride again before then. I didn't have much choice but to take my chances. Fortunately, Beefs and I lived.

Rub his poll and he sticks his tongue out :)

He started out pretty lazy today (and yesterday). Maybe the Back on Track really is getting him to relax. Yesterday, it was hot and muggy so his sluggishness didn't surprise me. Today it was cooler, so I was expecting him to have a little more energy. Nope. Time to put the spurs back on. The good part about this is that he is starting out relaxed instead of it taking twenty minutes for him to chill out. Considering that a month ago, I was lucky to get him to relax at all, I'm not going to complain.

We walked on a loose rein for about ten minutes, focusing on staying forward and bending around my inside leg. Then I picked up the reins and we worked on leg yields, serpentines, and quarter turns on the haunches. Then we picked up the trot and started off with some serpentines and more lateral work. He wasn't putting much effort into it at first, but by the end of our ride Beefs was very forward, loose over the topline, and swingy. I didn't canter because the footing was still boggy in some places. 

Not sure I'm loving the white on black, but it's better than I thought it'd be.

I do think that the BoT pad has made a small difference the last two times I've ridden Beefs. He has been much more agreeable. He is looser from the beginning. Considering he just had the laser therapy, I would expect him to be better anyway. I'll have to wait to use the pad more before I can get a better idea of how much it helps him. It certainly doesn't hurt.

Another Damn Ogilvy Review

I know review after review has been written on this pad, but I have a few things to add that I didn't find in other reviews out there.

First of all, I had originally ordered one directly from Ogilvy. I just ordered a plain white dressage memory foam half pad, thinking that it would be in stock and so I could get it quicker. I sent them an e-mail to ask about when the pad would ship, not to rush them, just so I could keep an eye out for it. They promptly replied, saying that the pad should ship on about 4-6 weeks. Apparently, they were so slammed that they didn't even have the stock pads in stock. Okay, not the end of the world.



I ended up ordering one of the stock half pads from Mary's Tack and the pad arrived three days later. I couldn't wait to try it!

For the most part, I love the pad and it is what the company and other people say it is. My horse seems more comfortable, my back doesn't hurt as much after I ride, and my saddle fits better. The cover washes well (fortunately, since I ordered white). There are a few things I don't like, wish that I had done different, or wish that I had known about. None of these things have anything to do with the company or the quality of the product, more like hindsight is 20/20.

So freaking big! Aghh!

When I put the saddle on the pad, I noticed that it was a little big for my saddle. I had ordered a large per their sizing (I have an 18" Custom Saddlery), but it is still about 2-3" too big. At this point, I just needed the pad and didn't want to deal with exchanging it. Better too big than too small right? It didn't look that bad....

The only problem is now it drives me insane. Because it's too big, it looks extra, super puffy. Kind of like a giant marshmallow under my saddle. I wasn't all that excited about the whole puffy look anyway, but after reviewing a bunch of pictures I decided it really didn't look bad and ordered one anyway. Honestly, they look really nice as long as the pads fit the saddle correctly. They look much worse if they don't.

Another thing I noticed is that it does feel like a lot more between my horse and I when I ride. Beefs is super sensitive, so it's not that big of a deal, but I feel like he isn't quite as responsive to my seat when I use the Ogilvy pad. I'm willing to deal with this though, since he does seem more comfortable in it.



The only other thing is you have to tighten the girth again after you get on. I wouldn't mind this at all if I rode in a jumping saddle or had someone around all of the time to tighten my girth for me. However, trying to tighten a short dressage girth while on a wiggly thoroughbred can be a real challenge. Getting on, riding in a couple of circles, and then getting off to tighten it is also a pain in the ass.

But my Ogilvy half pad isn't.

Would I order another one? Absolutely. Just with a few differences. I had actually kept the pad from the company on order, thinking it wouldn't hurt to have two if I liked them. I did eventually end up cancelling it though because I want to make some changes.  First off, I think I want the gummy half pad in a size medium so I don't look like I sat my saddle on top of the Pillsbury Doughboy. I am also probably going to order black. In pictures, the black looks really nice under the dressage saddles, even better than the white (and I'm a white fiend). I haven't decided if I'll do different colored piping yet, the binding will be black probably, and I want embroidery. On a good note, I'm getting less boring with the colors. At least a little bit.